Beastmilk ‘Climax’ ALBUM REVIEW

Climax, dead skull and a cocktail glass filled with sour milk. Question: what do they all have in common? Answer: apocalyptic post-punk band Beastmilk.

Finland’s Beastmilk are signed to SVART Records, and are finally about to release their highly-anticipated debut album, ‘Climax’. But, has the monster album been equipped with the right elements to stand-up against the putrefying music industry’s perception of ‘good’? And ready to turn the world’s gig venues into turmoil? Or, are the results of the Climax virtually nothing but a whisper, compared to the build-up?

From first glance of the titles, we can already feel the sinister air glowing through the debut album. Tracks ‘The Wind Blows through Their Skulls’ and ‘You Are Now under Our Control’are a mouthful at best, but even from the song-titles, we can see the influences of icy darkness that cross paths with melancholy emotions.

The debut-album opens up with the ominous track ‘Death Reflects Us’. Delivering a very punky guitar vibe, paired with a vocal that sounds eerily as haunting and as dry as Harry McVeigh (White Lies), a high range of emotion is obtained from this opening track.

‘When the blood starts to rush / I’ve got a genocidal crush’ pounding passion trickles from track three in the form of ghostly whispers and a guitar that quivers and shakes beneath the dominant drum beat. Decked out in dark romance and painted in gloom, easily becoming one of the more memorable songs to make its mark on the LP

Most of the debut is smothered in obscurity – a bleak album that offers listeners a bite of a crimson red fruit. Heavy excitement is also released through the hammering drum opening of ‘Nuclear Winter’. The track offers up a heavy spine-chilling feeling, before ripping tension in the air through a more-aggressive-Echo-&-the-Bunnymen-feeling. All hell breaks loose as the spindly instruments lace together, creating a pouring pool of sensation.

This raw emotion is also present on ‘Love in a Cold World’. The oddly up-beat clapping seems something of a foreign nature. Resembling a more ominous rattle of The Jesus and Mary Chain, the track incorporates a strangling vocal shouting gruffly for help. Creating an album with so many dark and twisted turns is a gamble, that’s luckily paid off in the best possible way.

The debut’s influence of dark metal wave, spiked with glorious drabness, comes to a sophisticated halt on final track ‘Strange Attractors’. A more mystic vocal is also used – making it, arguably, the most experimental track on the album.

The prominence of Beastmilk’s instruments cutting the air throughout their debut radiates a dark presence that seems to be moving so fast, it’s hard to remember to breathe. ‘Climax’ is an album fuelled by energizing bare emotion. A mix of dark styles, influences and a sound so different – genre battles are about to be ended. Its eye-catching sound and taste is something that hasn’t been captured so specifically for a long time. It’s big, and it’s only going to get bigger.

Beastmilk’s debut album ‘Climax’ is released on December 2nd 2013 on SVART